Home fans had high hopes heading into this Yorkshire derby with interim coach Liam Finn having a squad that was close to full strength and morale-boosting victories in their previous two matches.
When Leeds began sloppily, with Lachie Miller kicking long, the Giants punished them as George King forced his way over for his first try of the season with just 62 seconds on the clock.
It was a false dawn for the jubilant home supporters as Leeds ran in five tries without reply to take the game away from the Giants before half-time.
Croft was first on the scoresheet, and after more sloppy defence from the restart, Jarrod O’Connor scampered over from dummy half to put Leeds in front.
Huddersfield did not help themselves with some soft defence, missing a staggering 51 tackles in the match, but the Rhinos were irrepressible, completing their sets, moving the ball swiftly and threatening on every attack.
The home side were not helped when Sam Halsall, back for his first game after six weeks out with a hamstring injury, had to be helped off with a calf problem just 16 minutes.
James McDonnell’s pass out of the back of his hand sent Jack Bird over, Ryan Hall picked up his 250th try in a Leeds shirt as the Giants defence malfunctioned again, and Miller chipped, chased and touched down for another.
The Giants gave themselves a glimmer of hope with Jacob Douglas’ fine finish in the corner just before the break, but they shot themselves in the foot again as Taane Milne, injured in the build-up to that try, automatically failed a head injury assessment for not wearing a mandatory mouthguard.
Leeds piled on the misery as Cam Smith went over and then a 40/20 kick from Jake Connor, who also kicked eight conversions, brought field position from which Croft nabbed his second try.
Three minutes later Croft scored his third, before Jacob Gagai’s fourth try in his past five games gave the forlorn Giants fans something to cheer.
It barely interrupted the procession as Super League’s top try-scorer Maika Sivo finally got in on the act for his 15th of the season, and Croft stepped and scampered for his fourth before Olly Russell added a late consolation try.
